Identified! NY - Harlem, BlkMale 1609UMNY, 20-30, USMC Tattoo, Jun'97 Leroy Bernard Matthews

So, what can we do? Does someone feel comfortable enough to contact the 30th precinct by phone? I'm at work until 4pm, which is 5pm NY time. I think that's the only thing we can do at this point, unless someone has some success with the military UA office.

I am not able to call today either. I wish there was an email address....
 
Did the ME's office have any info on why it wasn't put into NamUS until 2010? How did it end up in his hands so many years later?
 
I can't find any email addresses for anyone in the NYPD. I think that's odd. I guess they don't want to deal with people that way. Can any of the seasoned sleuthers out there give us some advice on what to do now?
 
Did the ME's office have any info on why it wasn't put into NamUS until 2010? How did it end up in his hands so many years later?

I just sent another email to the M.E. handling this case. I will let you know what he says...
 
There is another thread here on WS for hatGloria Baird I think that dealt with an MP who was also listed as AWOL. He could have finished his tour. Do we know it was first recon? We should try to find any recon force we can to help I'd him. That Marine needs to be given a proper burial.
 
Do we know it was first recon?

We know that his tattoo says "1st Force" on the top and then "Recon" on the bottom. We are just assuming that he was enlisted and a part of this group. His death appears to have been unreported in the media, so anyone looking for him wouldn't have seen or heard about his death. His case didn't even appear in the UID website until 2010. We have no idea why.

FWIW - after doing some searching on the 30th Precinct in NY, it looks like they were going through a major scandal that continued through 1997.
 
So, what can we do? Does someone feel comfortable enough to contact the 30th precinct by phone? I'm at work until 4pm, which is 5pm NY time. I think that's the only thing we can do at this point, unless someone has some success with the military UA office.

I can call tomorrow AM. There's got to be a cold case detective that can dig up this report.
 
I can call tomorrow AM. There's got to be a cold case detective that can dig up this report.

WONDERFUL! I knew that there would be a seasoned sleuther that would be willing to help us navigate through this. I sure hope we can get some answers. :woohoo:
 
Here's another option too:

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/ This is a Gannett publication so I'm betting they have a decent sized readership. There are articles and it looks like a community section as well. Maybe we can get in touch with someone who writes content for this publication, or maybe post something on their forums?
 
OK, so I think the 30th might be in holiday mode and maybe they have detectives off for the thanksgiving holiday?

Did a little reading on crime in that area during this time frame. I wonder if this man may have been pushed onto the tracks as part of a hate crime?

ETA: Trying to figure out where he may have been headed. That station runs N/S between 11 and 193rd. And the 8th ave train. Was he heading uptown, down- or out to the suburbs?
 
Out of the 17 unidentified Males I mention in a previous post, 14 of them are Black Males. All of them are from the NYC area and are under the same M.E. NONE of them are listed as having DNA on file! Do they sometimes not list it? I am confused as to why they wouldn't take DNA samples on these victims for potential identification.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocme/html/mpi/mpi_home.shtml

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York is the recipient of a National Institute of Justice grant for using forensic anthropology and DNA to assist in the identification of unidentified human remains and finding missing persons. Family reference samples and samples from the missing person are also critical in identifying unidentified human remains and finding missing persons. The forensic services funded by this grant are available to law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and public DNA laboratories throughout New York State free of charge. The deadline for submitting cases has now been extended to August 31, 2012.
 
I just did another search and found out that Robert Scott King was a former Marine! Oh my!!
That is not mentioned in any of his profiles. He was a drug addict that was pretty much homeless. Visit this link to read more details. http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=10423&view=getnewpost

Is this a possibility?

Possibly. I think someone mentioned the dates being off but now I just read an article that makes me think it is possible. I wonder if the M.E. would look into this more if he had somone to compare to? It bothers me that dna is not available for all of those unidentified men in his jurisdiction.
 
I think that this match is too strong to not submit it to someone. I think the dates match up perfectly. If we had some better pics, we could compare the 2, but, the pic on The Charley Project is when he was much younger. How do we get more info or submit this for comparison?
 
I'm following this thread out of interest and have one comment or maybe its a question.

I would have thought that the minute a military tattoo is found on a UID, the coroner would shuttle the case over to the military.

I was browsing UIDs the other day and found another case also with military tattoos.

Seems like a no-brainer to get the military to help.

Why isn't this being done automatically?
 
I found this site for the NCIS, but I don't think that helps here. At least we know there are sites like this, however. I didn't see any for other branches of the armed forces.

http://www.ncis.navy.mil/ContactUs/Pages/MissingPersons.aspx

My experience is mostly with army and airforce, so I called an army friend (specializes in POW searches) yesterday to see if he had any thoughts. He said he would try to get hold of a marine in records who might be able to help.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if this man had any chemical substances in his body at the time? Did he have food in his stomach? Was he taken to a hospital prior to the ME? Seems like the ME should have all this info on file.

For a visual on the subway station I believe he may have been at (or traveling to/from):

IND St Nicholas Ave Line: R46 A Train at 145th St (Uptown Bound) - YouTube

This poor guy- I am really bothered by the fact that he seems to have no one who cares who he was.
 
Yes Oriah, that's why I can't stop thinking about this case. It just seems like the system completely failed him. How did they expect to identify him if no one knew that this even happened. I guess they were waiting for someone to report a missing person from the area. If the UID happens to be the guy from Florida, then they would never have put the 2 together.

I am guessing that the UID had no family in the area, and they may have thought he was homeless which may be why they just didn't put any effort into his case.

One more note about the tattoo...my husband said that he met people while he was in the Navy that would get elaborate Navy tattoos (including special forces), and then they would get discharged or flunk out of bootcamp. He said that they would aspire to be a Navy Seal or something similar, so they would get a tattoo that indicated "Navy Seals" and then they never made it in. So, the moral of the story is that the UID's tattoo may not be a true picture of how his time in the Marine's was spent. Just wanted to throw that out there to keep all options open.
 
Yes Oriah, that's why I can't stop thinking about this case. It just seems like the system completely failed him. How did they expect to identify him if no one knew that this even happened. I guess they were waiting for someone to report a missing person from the area. If the UID happens to be the guy from Florida, then they would never have put the 2 together.

I am guessing that the UID had no family in the area, and they may have thought he was homeless which may be why they just didn't put any effort into his case.

One more note about the tattoo...my husband said that he met people while he was in the Navy that would get elaborate Navy tattoos (including special forces), and then they would get discharged or flunk out of bootcamp. He said that they would aspire to be a Navy Seal or something similar, so they would get a tattoo that indicated "Navy Seals" and then they never made it in. So, the moral of the story is that the UID's tattoo may not be a true picture of how his time in the Marine's was spent. Just wanted to throw that out there to keep all options open.


BBM:
I totally agree, CherBearSTL

Homeless, Marine, flunked Marine, addict, mental illness, mugging, robbery, missing from somewhere far away, lost in the system...or none of the above- he was someone's baby boy at some point. :(

The man should have a name.

ETA: I wonder if we can identify where the tattoo was given?
 

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